Rotorua man admits 14th drink-driving offence

A recidivist drink-driver who has admitted his 14th conviction has been told by a Rotorua District Court judge his life is a "train wreck" and something else needs to be done to make him stop.

Leonard James Emery, 58, appeared in the Rotorua District Court on Monday when he pleaded guilty to two charges - driving with excess breath alcohol third or subsequent and driving while disqualified third or subsequent.

A police summary of facts, released to the Rotorua Daily Post, said Emery had 13 previous convictions relating to alcohol or drug-impaired driving.

The summary said Emery was indefinitely disqualified from driving in October 2011. He has eight previous convictions for driving while disqualified, suspended or revoked.

The summary said Emery was driving east on Lake Rd on April 11 this year about 9pm. He was stopped by police doing a routine check.

He was found to have a breath alcohol reading of 1189 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath, more than four times the legal limit of 250 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath.

In explanation to police, he said he was dropping off family because their sober driver was drunk. He admitted he was "stupid".

After Emery pleaded guilty to the charges, Judge Phillip Cooper said he wanted to look at alternative methods for Emery to address his alcohol issues.

He ordered a cultural report be done under Section 27 of the Crimes Act, which he said he hoped would find a "circuit breaker" to stop his offending.

"Your life is a train wreck with you in and out of prison at the moment because of alcohol."

Judge Cooper said he would look at a "holistic" approach because at the moment it's a "prison sentence to protect the public".

He said the cultural report would look at how Emery could be helped "so he doesn't end up going to jail time and time again".

Emery was remanded in custody to reappear on July 25 for sentencing.

Senior Sergeant DenisMurphy, who leads the Rotorua police traffic unit, said police did regular checkpoints and would not let up on drink-drivers.

He said police noticed younger drivers tended to be more aware of the need to have a sober driver.

"Recidivist drink drivers in the 50-plus category, it can be hard to change their attitudes. Alcohol is the driver of their offending and if you can address their alcohol addictions then that's the first step."

Murphy said anyone who saw friends, family or even strangers intending to drive after drinking too much alcohol and they weren't able stop them, should call police immediately.

"The simple fact is if they don't, they are a fatal crash waiting to happen."

Latest police figures show there are still too many drink-drivers being caught in Rotorua.

Last year there were 658 drink-drivers caught in Rotorua, the highest it's been since 2012. The worst month last year was December when 89 drink-drivers were caught.

The number of drug-impaired drivers caught was incredibly low, with only eight caught for the entire 2017 year, which was the same amount caught in 2016.

Drink-driver offences

Year Total
2017 658
2016 476
2015 468
2014 462
2013 618
2012 739